Rice out-polled everyone. She out-polled the loud and eccentric
Gov. Chris Christie. She out-polled the early
favorite, Sen. Marco Rubio. She out-polled Republicans'
favorite budget man, Rep. Paul Ryan. And Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, the
current frontrunner on Intrade? He received less
than one-half of 1 percent of the vote.

Why? Because everyone loves Condi Rice. She has an 80 percent
favorability rating in the poll. That's 25 points higher than the
next candidate (Christie).

Second, and maybe even more importantly, is the fact that Rice is
a known commodity. Voters already know her, and they have decided
that they like her. This YouGov poll found that she had the
highest name recognition of any candidate other than Sarah Palin. (And no, that's not going to
happen again.) Among people who have heard of her, 70 percent
view her favorably.

Why is Portman — widely perceived as a "safe" pick —
actually a pretty risky VP choice? Because 70 percent of voters
have never heard of him. That makes him easier for the
Obama campaign to define as a Bush operative. They can try to do
the same with Rice, but it will prove much harder since many more
voters have made up their minds.

Some or all of these could backfire with the Republican base.
Still, if Palin is any barometer for how tea-party types would
feel, that's not the case. Here's what she told Greta Van Susteren Thursday night:

“I would certainly prefer a presidential and vice
presidential candidate who had that respect for all innocent,
precious, purposeful human life, and showed that respect by being
a pro-life candidate. We need to remember, though, that it’s not
the vice president that would legislate abortion, that would be
Congress’ role, and we will keep that in mind.”